Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), PG-13, 4 stars

Caesar and his clan of apes preparing to fight.

I have adored the Planet of the Apes series from the late 1960s to 1970s, especially the original sci-fi classic from 1968 starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Linda Harrison. If anybody has seen that film, you know one of the most shocking twists in movie history where (SPOILER ALERT!) Heston's character found out that he was on Earth the whole time. The sequels were definitely hit and miss with my favorite sequel being the 4th movie, Conquest for the Planet of the Apes. Then, we had the forgettable Tim Burton film and we had the surprisingly good reboot 3 years ago. Now, we have this sequel to Rise and the best sequel summer ever in my opinion just got a whole lot better.

Almost a decade has passed since the ALZ-113 virus spread across the globe and the incident regarding the apes and the Golden Gate bridge and most of the human population is wiped out and the ape population is growing and thriving with minimal power. Caesar (Andy Serkis), leader of the apes, and Koba (Toby Kebbell) lead the apes to hunt a herd of deer in order to survive and when Caesar's son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) gets mauled and scarred by a bear, Koba kills the bear and Caesar thanks him.

The apes return to their sanctuary in the Muir Woods and established some homes and an educational system for the little apes to learn mentored by Caesar's orangutan friend, Maurice (Karin Konoval). Caesar goes home to tend to his wife, Cornelia (Judy Greer), as she gives birth to another son as Blue Eyes looks on. Caesar and Maurice discuss, via sign language, how they got so far after the escape and the incident at the Golden Gate Bridge. Maurice asks Caesar whether he misses the humans and Caesar admits that he sometimes does.

Blue Eyes and his friend, Ash (Doc Shaw), are walking through the woods and 15 minutes into the film, they and we, the audience, encounter the first human. Frightened, he shoots an ape and the gunshot's sound wakes Caesar and a myriad of apes up. Malcolm (Jason Clarke), the leader of the small group, and other people consisting of Ellie (Keri Russell), Malcolm's wife and a nurse, and his son, Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Caesar orders the humans to "GOOOOOOO" back to where they came from and Malcolm and the others leave and Alexander has to leave his bag, by which Maurice picks it up. Caesar tells Koba to follow them.

Malcolm and the group return to a military base in San Francisco where they report to the leader, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), about their task and they tell him about Caesar's ability to speak. Their task and goal is to gain access to a nearby dam and activate it to supply the community with enough power to survive a little longer. Caesar and his apes gather to declare that the humans to stay away from the apes home and he does not want war, but they will fight back if they must. Koba and two apes go back to the humans' habitat to skulk around and snoop whether they a lot or a little firepower to annihilate the apes. When Caesar plans to make peace with the humans, Koba gets upset with Caesar and cause trouble for both the humans and the apes and possibly both of their futures.

Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and his group facing the apes.

Let's get to the point, this is the eighth Planet of the Apes movie and this is the first one since the 1968 classic that they got an Apes movie equal to the first movie, which means, the filmmakers created a great movie that is both tantalizing and emotional. There are references from the prequel if you have seen the ending, but if you have not seen the prequel, I think you will be all right because it stands on its own in a very satisfying way. The story takes place 10 years later after the virus spread and we witness both the apes and humans live without power and with limited power respectively. This movie is a tale of survival after so many unfortunate events happen impacting the apes and humans.

Andy Serkis is cast as the lead as Caesar and it is without question, he delivers another sensational motion-capture performance. He captures the leadership, intensity, vulnerability, instinctive protection and sadness on-screen. I just hope that the Academy looks at his performance and put aside their worries about motion-capture performances and recognize Serkis' contribution to the program since he delivered those performances as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong. Clarke, Oldman, Russell and the other performances are fine because I do not think we have to recognizable them as memorable performances because all they are trying to do is survive. I am just thankful that they are not caricatures. I would have still been fine if the movie were just with actors portraying apes. Judy Greer gives a good performance as Cornelia, Caesar's wife. But I think the villain of the year so far is Koba delivered magnificently by Toby Kebbell. He is an ape who is unfortunately a renegade ape who wants to lead them to another future full of apes.

There are little moments in this movie that are just unbelievably masterful and intricate such as the apes, visual effects, the crafted storyline, and some scenes of intensity and poignancy. My favorite scene is when a wounded Caesar is taken back to his old home from the prequel and we see the pictures and video of his mentor and Caesar when he was a little chimp. It is heartwarming and touching. Even, Gary Oldman has a scene of poignancy when he looks at the two children he lost. The masterful intense scenes are the long tracking shots of the climactic fight in the human tower and the 360 degree shot from a tank attacking the apes. The filmmakers take the series to another level.

Matt Reeves, the director, crafted a fastly-paced, 130-minute sequel that generates thrills and captures emotion from any range displayed on-screen. This summer or maybe, this year has been weird because most sequels have been good and usually, the rule is sequels turn out inferior to the prequels. It seems that filmmakers and writers work really hard to craft a movie that is not duplicitous in any way possible. I want to thank Reeves and his crew for creating something special because the visual effects are terrific, the story is remarkable, the themes of survival, love, and leadership are there, and the cinematography is beautiful to look at. This latest installment of the Apes franchise is the best film of the summer and surprisingly, one of the best films of the year.

****